Hit and Run
by foreststrike
Summary: Delving deeper into the life of Navie Eskira Sanchez and her brother Kevin Tristan, before they were made Vault Hunters. This story branches out from 10 Days where Navire first appeared.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N. Hello! Since my wonderful fans loved Navire so much in my first Borderlands story, 10 Days, I thought I might make a separate story delving deeper into Navire's life! So, enjoy! Oh, if you don't know who Navire is, please do go read 10 Days and find out! Oh yes, this is a short story. Short chapters.**

"Wake up, my darling. Time to get up," my mom nudged my gently. My eyes flickered open to a beautiful world of sunlight, and trees and grass and nature. My jaws parted open in a yawn, my pink tongue lolling out. Then I remembered my manners and quickly closed my mouth with a bit of embarrassment.

My mother was sitting by me, looking at me with her beautiful amber eyes. I stretched and stood up on my legs, flexing the muscles. "Mom, are you going to teach me hunting today?" I asked hopefully, giving her a pleading look in my eyes.

I had seen so many of the other cheetahs hunt so well. Chase their prey with such magnificent speeds. I probably wouldn't ever be as good as them. My mom smiled. "Of course. It's about time you learn to catch your own prey anyway," my mom said.

My heart soared. Finally, I'd learn to hunt! Normally, it'd be my dad teaching me to hunt and fight and all, but I never got to meet my dad. My mom told me he had been captured by those evil creatures called "Hyperion Soldiers" to be taken for experimenting. She taught me Hyperion Soldiers were evil and we should stay away from them, though I thought if they were evil, we should kill on sight. But I had learned that there were hundreds of thousands of those Hyperion Soldiers and we wouldn't stand a chance.

My mom nudged me. "Go have some breakfast, Navire. We'll go hunting once it's midday," she purred. I loved the sound of my name. It felt… nice. Unlike most other creatures, we were civilised. We had names and last names and occasionally, middle names. We had a social class system and we worked together. We had a law, we had homes, we had a so-called government. We had a hierarchy and my family ranked closer to the top because of how brave my dad was.

But names were what I was most proud of. Especially my own. Some families didn't care for last names, not that they were necessary. But my family had grown since my great-great-great-great-great grandparents under the last name of Sanchez. I didn't know all my ancestors' names, but I know my grandfather was called Ezcon Sanchez, my father was Ferlos Sanchez, my mother was Vysanna Sanchez. My brother and I were the only ones with middle names. I was Navire Eskira Sanchez.

My brother was adopted into my family, since his parents had hated him and abandoned him. But he kept their name. He was called Kevin Glenn Calaud Tristan, but all of us called him Kevin. He looked different, but he smelled like us. He acted like us, he fit in as much as possible. Unlike us, he had a grey base instead of gold. He had black stripes instead of spots. And he had some blue streaks in his fur, though we were never quite sure why.

"Bring your brother with you," Vysanna said, flicking her tail. I bounded over to the den and crept inside. The cave was roomy and spacious, and well ventilated. Kevin was sleeping in a corner of the cave, curled up. I poked him with a paw and roused him from his sleep. "Huh… what?" he mumbled, rolling over. "Mom wants to take us hunting at midday," I said. That instantly woke him up. He jumped to his feet. "Serious?" he asked. I nodded and we raced each other out of the den.

I expected to see the colony like it always was everyday, calm, peaceful and quiet, but today was different. There was tension everywhere. Everyone was bristling. Kevin and I exchanged glances with each other. Then my mom hurried over. "Hide," was all she said. I could feel the fear in her voice and I knew she was serious. So Kevin and I ran.

Outside, there was silent tension for awhile. Hyperion Soldiers were coming. Coming to take us. Kevin and I were crouched and squeezed in a small crevice in a rock, far back as possible. We heard the footsteps of many Hyperion Soldiers coming for the colony. And suddenly, the territory exploded in war.

I couldn't see much, and neither could Kevin, but we whimpered and pressed ourselves further in the cave. I peered through the crack in the rock and saw one of the cheetahs being thrown into a cage and locked up. Another was was shot. I gasped at the sight of the blood spraying. Kevin covered his eyes with his paws.

Suddenly, two Hyperion Soldiers started walking towards the crevice while the others carried off the caged cheetahs. They had seen us. I pressed myself low to the ground, when our mom stepped in front of the crack where we were hiding in. She snarled at the Hyperion Soldiers, who attempted to pass without having to provoke her. But she snapped at then when they tried to go closer to the crack.

Eventually, one of them with a funny beard got fed up. "Let's get this over with," he growled, taking out a shotgun. He pulled the trigger, and a loud bang resonated through the crack. I flattened my ears in shock and looked out. Blood had spattered on the floor outside and some had found its way into the crack and landed on the ground in front of us. Mom was still standing.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but not for long was I saw mom collapse. I wanted to go out, help her, save her, but I knew that the evil Hyperion Soldiers would get us. So Kevin and I pressed ourselves as far back in the crack as possible while a hand reached in and tried to grab at us.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N. Hey! So sorry I haven't been updating this, I was so focused on 10 Days and the sequel which I'm having trouble thinking of :/**

"What's going to happen to us?" Kevin whined. I crouched against him, our pelts pressing against each other. "I don't know Kev, but maybe we should wait here," I whimpered, feeling just as much far as I knew Kevin was feeling. Maybe more.

Outside, all was quiet. I stared long and hard at Mom's body, still willing for her to get back on her feet. "Will she ever wake up?" Kevin asked. I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. The false answer would give him false hope, only to be crushed. Reality would break him just as badly. "Navire?" Kevin prompted me, prodding me with a paw.

I glanced at him. "Would you want to hear the truth?" I asked as I squeezed my way out of the crevice. My instinct told me all was safe. And I always listened to my instincts. Kevin followed me out. "I dunno," he mumbled, "Is the truth good or bad?" he asked.

"Well, depends on how you're asking," I replied as I began to wander around the blood-stained territory, searching for any more survivors. "Kevin cocked his head as he followed me, his grey tail swishing from side to side. "Uh… I don't understand," he said.

"You could be asking me in two ways. One, is telling the truth good or bad? Or two, is the truth to your question about whether Mom will wake up good or bad? As in the situation?" I said. Kevin paused. "Could I have both answers?" he asked as he followed me.

"Uh… sure. Good, and bad." I said. Kevin was confused. "Whaddya mean?" he questioned. "Well, telling the truth is good, though sometimes you gotta bend it a bit for your own good. I remember Dad told me that, before you came along. He said it's how you survive on Pandora. You gotta lie sometimes, but not all the time. And… no. Mom's never waking up," I said, flinching as I told him the news.

Kevin was unfazed. "Why not?" he asked. I sighed as I began walking away from the plains we had once lived in. "She… she's dead," I said. Kevin's eyes grew wide. "What?" he said. "As in, she's gone forever? But where did she go?" he questioned. I kept walking, and Kevin followed closely be hid me.

"She's gone to live in the sky, with Dad and Grandpa and Grandma," I said, suddenly realising how mature I'd become over a span of 10 minutes. Kevin still wasn't to clear, but he could sense I didn't really want to talk, so he dropped the subject. "Oh… okay," he said.

We walked on for hours, before we reached a bridge. I looked at Kevin. "You ready to explore Pandora?" I asked. Kevin nodded enthusiastically. "You bet!" he yelped. We walked together onto the bridge and away from home.

2 months later…

"Eh, what'd ya get?" Kevin asked as I returned from my promised hunt, since Kevin had been doing the hunting these past few days and he deserved a break.

"Skag, rakk, that's about it," I said, dropping the kill on the ground. Kevin got up from his spot in the sun and came over to me. We crouched down on opposites of each other and began eating. Living in Fyrestone was tough, but no big deal. At the most, a JNK Loader disturbed us or something but nothing interesting really happened. Hyperion kept to themselves, TK Baha didn't visit often, though I would have liked him to.

But the problem was, Kevin and I were growing apart. Kevin spent more time wandering around the Badlands while I generally stayed in Fyrestone or TK Baha's place. I sighed as I finished my food, walking towards the exit of Fyrestone. "I'm going to TK Baha's place," I said. Kevin just nodded. "M'kay," he muttered, "I'm gonna go to Skag Gully later anyway."

I looked back as I left Fyrestone and sighed. Heading up the slope to TK Baha's place, most of the skags ignored me, figuring I could easily chase them and kill them. TK Baha was sitting out on his front porch when he noticed my presence. He stroked me a few times, feeling for my significant features.

"Well!" he exclaimed as he petted me, "if it isn't Marian!" I figured he named me after his late wife for memory sake, and since I couldn't exactly tell him my real name so… I lived with it. I purred and sat down by his feet.

"You didn't bring your boyfriend 'ere?" TK Baha teased. I shied away. _He's not my boyfriend… _I thought bitterly. TK Baha felt me shift and petted me. "I'm juz messin' with ya," he laughed. I purred to show I still loved TK Baha, even though time after time he kept annoying me.

But I wanted him to come with me. I was going to leave Fyrestone soon and head somewhere else, since there wasn't really a point to staying in the Arid Nexus Badlands. But how would I tell him? I wanted to leave soon, but I knew Kevin wouldn't come with me, he was already venturing out on his own and sometimes left for days, and he had found someone he fell in love with.

I grabbed TK Baha's walking stick and brushed it against him. "Whassat?" TK Baha said, reaching for where his walking stick once was. "Where's mah walkin' stick?" he asked. I poked him with it again. "Come on…. just understand!" I growled in frustration. "You wan' me to follow ya?" he asked as he took hold of his walking stick. I nodded gleefully, till I remembered he couldn't see. I purred to show my agreement.

"But… where's you goin'?" TK Baha asked. I purred in a questioning way, hoping for him to start making guesses. "Skag Gully?" he asked. I growled.

"The Dahl Headlands?"

Growl.

"The Rust Commons?"

Growl.

"Moxxi's Underdome?"

Growl.

"New Haven?"

Growl.

"Sanctuary?"

Hm… Sanctuary. Seemed like a nice enough place to go. I purred.

"Eh, Marian, as much as I'd like to go to Sanctuary with ya, I think I'm quite contented 'ere. Besides, there ain't nothing Sanctuary's got that I don't have here," TK Baha said. My heart dropped. So much for traveling with him. TK Baha took his walking stick from me and sat back down. "Sorry sweetie," TK Baha said. "Best you be goin' without me," he said.

I was pretty upset. I'd miss TK Baha, I may never see him again. I settled by his feet and figured I'd spend one more night with him before I left for this… Sanctuary. "You not leaving yet?" TK Baha asked as he felt my fur brush against his leg. I purred and lay down, my tail curling around his left leg.

TK Baha and I lapsed into silence as I stared at the sunset, and I wasn't too sure what TK Baha was thinking about. His wife, probably. Then he began snoring. So much for thinking.

Around midnight, I felt something poke me. I blinked open my eyes and looked around, till I say TK Baha prodding me. "Hey, Marian," he whispered. I sat up to show him I was awake and giving him my attention. "I think I changed my mind. I'll go with ya to Sanctuary. We leave first thing tomorrow," TK Baha said.

I purred in delight. TK smiled in my direction, before he leaned back on his chair and fell asleep again almost instantly. I settled down again, and once I was sure TK was deep asleep, I headed back to Fyrestone to leave a message for Kevin.

I grabbed an old ECHO I found and pawed it till I found the record button, then I began growling into it, in a way only Kevin would understand. Then I hit the same button and left the ECHO on Kevin's sleeping spot. He'd find it when he got back. And boy, I'd be gone by then.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N. Woo! More chapters!**

At day break, I went out hunting and brought back skag meat for TK Baha and I. TK Baha had roasted the skag meat the same way he did every time. And it was amazing. I licked my lips as I finished off the skag meat. It never tasted so good.

By late morning, TK Baha had finished packing up everything he had nd was ready to leave for Sanctuary. "Well. Guess this good bye to my old home," TK Baha said as he got off his chair. I guided him with my tail to the Fast Travel in Fyrestone, which, surprisingly, he knew how to navigate pretty easily.

"Good bye, Arid Badlands!" TK Baha laughed as he sent us to Sanctuary. I closed my eyes, wanting to surprise myself at the view of Sanctuary. When I opened my eyes, yup. I surprised myself.

Apparently, Sanctuary was a barren wasteland covered in snow with a bunch of bandit clan territories. "You sure this is Sanctuary?" I asked, though I knew he wouldn't understand. TK Baha just began walking ahead, so I just followed behind obediently. TK Baha walked straight to the first hut he found and pulled up a chair, sitting down.

I meowed to catch his attention. "Hm? Oh Marian, you go on ahead, I'm gonna take a nap here, hm?" Uh… sure. I purred in agreement and began walking down the icy road. I looked around as I walked down the road. Just a good 3 metres away on the road, was a smoking pile of metal. I trotted up to it, sniffing the pile.

Just a little further out was an ECHO, which I promptly activated. A recording began playing.

"Got the power core from the bloodshots…. I'm hit…. gonna lose them in the Marrowfields….!" I pricked my ears as the ECHO stopped playing. I sniffed the floor for any scent trails, and began following the one that was most likely to be bandits.

I didn't really have an idea on where I was going, I just kept following bandit scent among bullymong scent and rakk scent, deeper into snow-covered rocky areas. As I got closer, I heard someone yell.

"If anyone can hear me, I NEED HELP!" I pricked my ears to trace where the yelling came from, and began running towards the edge of the snowy cliff.

As I rounded the corner, I saw three bandits beating the crud out of someone on the ground, who was whimpering and curled in a feral position. Growling, I flattened my ears and ran into the fray, leaping onto the back of the nearest psycho, who howled as my claws dug into his back. He frantically scrambled around, his hands reaching back and attempting to grab me off, but I just leapt off his back and onto his friend.

The marauder screamed as I bowled him over, tearing up his face with my claws. I lunged down onto the marauder and latched my teeth in his shoulder, clamping my jaw down hard and ripping off flesh. Blood sprayed everywhere, on my face, on the two other psychos, on the floor and on the victim.

I turned around and faced the third psycho, hissing and spitting, my tail lashing. The psycho growled at me and ran for me, trying to bitt me with his buzz axe. I leapt aside and threw myself at his leg, clamping on. The psycho hollered in pain as he tried to shake me off, jerking his leg around. I scrabbled and scratched at his leg, blood welling up at the scratches.

Suddenly, a red haze took over my vision and for a few seconds, my paws and jaws worked on their own, ripping up the entire bandit and reducing it to nothing but pulp. I had no idea I was doing it. When the haze cleared, I looked at what remained of the psycho. Nothing but red flesh and blood.

I shook my head clear of the ferocity and trotted up to the victim, nudging him with my nose. "You okay?" I asked, forgetting that he wouldn't understand me. He moaned and looked up to face me. "Wow… a cheetah. Didn't think a species as rare as yours would save me," he said, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He leaned back against the icy rock and I sat in front of him, cocking my head to the side.

The man said nothing, so I crept closer to him and licked him. He glanced down at me. "You seem nice enough," he said, stroking me. I enjoyed the feel of his hand running down my back. He muttered something I couldn't hear before struggling to his feet. "May as well bring you to Sanctuary," he said as he got up.

Sanctuary! Yes! If he could take me to Sanctuary, I'd be in his debt forever. We began walking out of Marrowfield, me trotting beside him as we walked.

"You got a name?" he asked me. I looked up at him and purred. "I'll take that as a yes," he said. "Name's Reiss," he said, "yours?" he asked. I thought about how I could tell him, so I ran to a rock and began gnawing at it with my teeth.

Reiss waited patiently as I carved my name into the stone. It took me awhile to make it actually legible, but I felt proud I had managed to carve my name on stone. I stepped back and let Reiss take a look.

"Navire…. is that it?" Reiss asked. I purred in delight. It felt nice to hear my name from someone else. "Well, Navire, I suppose you understand me?" he asked. I purred again, waving my tail in the air.

Reiss then looked to the skies. A storm was coming in. Grey, thunderous clouds rolled in over the skies, quickly shadowing over everything. "Well Navire, we better get going to Sanctuary," Reiss said, quickly turning and walking off. I trotted after him, keeping pace behind Reiss.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N. All of that inspiration! None of it for the sequel. **

**G: I missed you so much! *hugs* And. I. Love. That. Idea. XD Now that baddies are done thinking of, I need to come up with a plot. :/**

Sanctuary was buzzing with the soft hum of chatter all around the floating city. As Reiss brought me into the city, the area feel silent as everyone stared at Reiss. More like stared at me. Suddenly, some well-built, tanned guy pushed through the crowd.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, what's going o-" he stopped as he saw Reiss and me. "Reiss, you look an awful mess. Where the hell you been?" he asked, "and what in Pandora is that?" he asked, motioning to me. I stood up and growled at him. "Roland, this is Navire. She saved my ass from bandits in Marrowfield," Reiss said. The crowd began to disperse, much to my relief.

Roland scrutinised me for a few seconds, before he nodded. "Well, since she rescued you, I suppose we do owe her now. What's her name again?" Roland asked. Reiss looked tired, liked he wanted to pass out soon. "Navire," he sighed.

"You better go see Zed, Reiss, I'll bring Navire back to the HQ," Roland said, before he looked at me. "No no, Navire's coming with me," Reiss insisted, "she got a few hits from the bandits anyway," he said. Roland shrugged. "Whatever you say Reiss, so long you go to Zed."

Reiss trudged off to this Zed guy, with me following behind. "He might creep you out a bit," he said as he pushed open the door to the clinic. Zed was looking into a cupboard, which he slammed shut once he noticed me and Reiss.

"Hey Zed," Reiss said, sounding extremely tired. Zed walked up and support him as he stumbled. "Whoa whoa, what the hell have you been doing? You look like a skag just barfed you up," he said as he led Reiss to a seat.

Reiss said nothing. Then Zed realised I was there. He turned to me. "Well hello there," he said, squatting down and extending a hand. I figured since Reiss trusted him, I could trust him too. I crept closer to the outstretched hand and touched it with my nose. The tang of blood was sharp and salty, and I reared back a bit.

Reiss had fallen asleep on the chair, and Zed looked at me. He smiled. "I know just what to do with you," he said, picking me up. I felt oddly comfortable in his arms and didn't struggle. He placed me on the blood stained operating table. "Now you just sit here nice and good," he said.

I watched as Zed turned from me and heard some clanking. I cocked my head. Then Zed turned back to me with a needle. I had no idea what it was, so I just watched as he poked my flesh with it. I blinked a few times and Zed and I stared at each other for awhile. Then I started feeling drowsy. I lay down and curled up, giving way to the tiredness that washed over me.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N. Ahhh i really need to start thinking of plans for the sequel to 10 Days :/ And I apologise for CHapter 4 being extremely short, I just didn't want that chapter to go too far yet.**

"YOU DID WHAT TO HER?" Reiss screamed at Zed, who flinched back a bit. "Whoa whoa, slow down Reiss. It's nothing bad, in fact, the changes will help her survive better on Pandora. Tell me, how many primal creatures die each day?" Zed prompted, keeping his cool.

"I dunno," Reiss admitted, glancing over at me. Furry, human-like me. "A lot," Zed said, "and how many people die each day?" Reiss shrugged. "Less than creatures," he said. Zed nodded. "Exactly. And now that she's got the structure of a human, you can teach her to wield a gun and to fight, and who knows, she may become a Vault Hunter when she grows up," Zed said.

Reiss thought about it. Since I was already like that, why not make the best of it? Reiss could bring me up as a child and all. "I guess I could try…" Reiss said as he walked towards me and poked me. I grunted and rolled over, waving him away. "Not now…" I mumbled.

"Whoa… she can speak too?" Reiss said in awe. "Yeah, I kinda altered her voice box and her tongue a bit," Zed said. Reiss gently shook me again. I had enough. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, unaware of my new body. "What?" I growled, glaring at Reiss. "Can't a cat get some sleep?" Reiss was staring at me in awe. "What?" I repeated. Then I looked down at myself. Why were my legs so long? And… what?

I leapt up in shock. "Whoa! What the hell?" I shrieked as I looked around for a mirror. "Where's the bloody mirror?" I hissed. Zed pointed to a full length mirror in a corner of the room. I ran to it and stared at myself.

"What the fuck?" I snarled. Then I thought about it. "Actually," I said, turning around to make sure my tail was still there. "This is pretty cool," I said. I turned to face Reiss. "But… will I ever be able to go back to my old body?" I asked, smoothing down my spotted fur. Reiss glanced at Zed, and my gaze shifted to him.

"Uh… I don't think so, not without damaging a few organs," Zed admitted, looking uneasy. I shrugged. "Eh, whatever, this is pretty damn awesome!" I said. Reiss cocked his head at me. "Zed, I think I'll take her to the Raiders and see what they think of her," he said. He began to walk to the door. "Come on, Navire," he said. I followed Reiss, still getting used to my new body and the works. I tripped and stumbled a few times but generally could walk about 3 meters without falling.

"Roland? Guys?" Reiss called as he stepped into the HQ. "Whoa… this place is awesome!" I giggled in glee. Salvador came romping down the stairs. "Whaddya want, amigo? Roland went to kill somethi- ohh… who's this adorable?" Salvador asked as he noticed me. "Uh… hi?" I said, feeling slightly awkward. "Navire, Salvador. Salvador, Navire. Please don't kill her," Reiss said. "Pleasure to meet ya, Navire. You call me Salvador, okay amiga?" I nodded. "Okay, you wait here, I go call Brick," Salvador said as he turned. The midget walked up the first flight of stairs and yelled. "BRICK! YOU COME DOWN HERE!" he roared. I flattened my ears and brushed the hair out of my face. "I need a new hairstyle," I muttered as I flicked my messy fringe away.

Suddenly, some huge giant came down the stairs with Salvador. "Hey Slab!" he said, obviously greeting Reiss. "Got a new pet?" he asked, looking at me. "She's not my pet Brick, she's…" Reiss didn't seem to know what to call me. "She got a name?" Brick asked. "Navire," I said, before things got any more awkward.

"Brick," the giant said. I gingerly shook his hand, hoping he wouldn't crush it. He was surprisingly gentle to my compared-to-his small hand. I was looking forward to living here. With these guys.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N. I might be tweaking her history just a teensy bit… :D**

I woke up half-off a bed. I twisted my torso around and flipped myself off, looking around. This wasn't the Highlands…where- oh right! I remembered that I no longer lived in the Highlands. That was months behind me.

Last night, there had been this nice Siren called Angel who had offered me her bed. Initially I hadn't taken her bed out of politeness, but since she had left later that night to go somewhere with the other two Sirens, I had curled up on Angel's bed.

I yawned and stretched myself, looking at myself in the mirror. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door from outside. "Come in?" I said. The midget Salvador came in holding a large bed on his shoulder. "Good morning, amiga!" he said, putting down the bed. "Roland told me to go find a bed for you to sleep on," he explained as I stared at it. "Uh… thanks Salvador," I said, crawling on the bed and softening it by bouncing on it a few times.

Salvador turned and left, closing the door behind him. About five seconds later, the door opened again. Angel came in, looking shy. "Good morning, Navire," she said, sitting down on he bed and taking her laptop from the table we shared. It had her stuff, and my stuff. Not that I had much. Just a small dagger I had found in Claptrap's little corner of Sanctuary and a pistol Reiss had given me.

I yawned again. "Morning Angel, thanks for letting me have your bed last night," I said, leaping off my bed and hopping onto hers. Angel looked at me, then back at her computer screen. "Oh right, Lilith, Maya and I made something for you last night," she said, putting her laptop on the bed next to her, before getting up. She went to the opposite room, which I assumed the other two Sirens stayed in. She returned with a box, and placed it in front of me.

"We figured we'd get you something to wear," Angel said as I opened the box and pulled out an awesome set of clothes. "That. Is. Awesome," I said, as I brushed my fringe aside and took a look at it. I slipped on the grey shirt and the sash, before pulling on my pants and clipping together belt. Then Angel turned again and dug something out of the drawer. "And before I forget," she said, pulling out a small device, "if you're going to survive on Pandora and go out adventuring, you're going to need this. It's an ECHO device. Lets you keep in touch with all others with an ECHO and includes a HUD," she said, handing it to me.

I took it from her. "Thanks," I said. clipping it to my belt. Immediately my HUD activated, displaying my shield capacity, health module, ammunition module, grenade module. "Whoa," I said, amazed by the whole ECHO thing. I sat back down and looked at Angel's screen, which she was staring at again. "What's that?" I asked, putting my hands on her shoulder and pushing myself up to see better.

"Oh, nothing. Just my VaultBook account," she sad, scrolling through her newsfeed. I was about to ask what a VaultBook was when I noticed someone under her friends list. "Who's that?" I asked, pointing to a masked guy on her friends list. "That…" Angel said, when the same guy in Angel's friends list, smashed through the window with one hell of a huge bird and looked at both of us. "Hey girls," he said. Angel glanced at me. "…is Mordecai," she finished. I stared at him in awe. How could I not have seen him before? Mordecai looked at both of us. "Ah, so you're that new Crimson Raider," he said. I noticed in his hand he held a bottle of rakk ale. He stuck out his free hand. "Name's Mordecai, you probably know that," he said. I shook it. "Navire," I said.

"Well Navire, I got you something. I think you'll like it," he said, leaving the room. "Follow me," he said. I glanced at Angel, who gestured for me to follow Mordecai. I trotted after him to his room, where I also saw Axton. "Hi Axton," I said. The commando looked up from his sabre turret, which was stationed in the middle of the already-crammed room. He was either fixing it up, or cleaning it. "Sup Navire," he said. Mordecai opened a weapon crate.

"You're welcome in my room Navire, so long you don't touch my guns," he said, as Bloodwing examined me up and down from her perch. I nodded. "Got it," I said as he turned with a sniper rifle in his hands. He put the long range gun in my hands. "It's yours now," he said simply, before closing the chest.

I looked down at the sniper. "Serious?" I said. I couldn't believe it. "Yeah, I'm serious. I don't really have much use for that old sniper. Served me well, but I got better now. Figured may as well give it to you," he said. "Thanks!" I said gleefully, springing back to Angel's and my room. "Dudeeeeee check out what Mordecai gave me!" I said, raising the sniper over my head triumphantly. Angel looked up and smiled. "Ooh, you're lucky he gave you that one," she said as I placed my new sniper down carefully on the table.

I hopped back on my new bed Salvador had brought in earlier. "Angel," I said. She looked up, her blue eyes locking with my green ones. "Yes?" she asked. "What's it like being a Siren?" I asked. Angel cocked her head. "Well, there are perks and there are cons. Perks are that I get a power only special to me, and no other Siren in the universe. And because of the power I hold, I'm networked into almost everything on Pandora," she said. "What power have you got?" I asked as I took my dagger from my table and began to practice with it.

"I can Phase shift," Angel said. "Sounds interesting!" I said, "then, what are the cons?" I asked. Angel started to look uneasy. "Well," she began, "a special collar can drain me dry, especially when injected with Eridium."

"What's Eridium?" I asked. Angel stood up. "Let me show you," she said, walking to the door of our room. I jumped up and followed her, grabbing my pistol and my dagger with me. "Reiss," Angel said as she passed his room door, "I'm taking Navire out!"

"Yup, sure," Reiss's muffled voice came fem behind the door. I followed Angel out of the HQ and into the busy city of Sanctuary. "While we're here, I may as well introduce you to the rest of the people of Sanctuary," she said. "Everyone?" I asked. Angel cocked her head. "Well, only the really significant ones. Moxxi will love you, she finds felines adorable," she said. Huh, Moxxi sounded like a nice name.

Angel stopped by a large metal door and took out a piece of shiny, purple rock. "This, is Eridium. If you got some, you can buy upgrades for your gun or your backpack from Crazy Earl," Angel said, as she knocked on the metal door. Two eyes appeared from the slot.

"Yeah whaddya want?" Crazy Earl growled. "One Pistol SDU," Angel said. Crazy Earl took the Edirium from Angel and tossed something to her, which to caught. "Thanks Earl," she said. Earl said nothing, but shut the eye slot.

Angel passed the SDU to me. Your pistol can now hold 100 more bullets," she said. I had no idea how these things worked. "Cool!" I said, as Angel led me to Moxxi's bar. The bar was a loud place, with Crimson Raiders and Sanctuary folk wandering around. "I never liked coming here, but for your sake," Angel said as she walked up to a sexy bartender wearing a circus ringmaster get up. "Good morning, Moxxi," she said.

The bartender known as Moxxi turned. "Hello sugar," she said as Angel took a seat. I jumped up onto the seat next to Angel, and Moxxi smiled sweetly at me. "Hi sugar, you're that new Crimson Raider everyone's been talking about?" she asked. I nodded. "Welcome to the business darling. I'm Moxxi," she said. "Navire," I replied, looking around the bar.

"First time here, huh darling?" Moxxi asked as she wiped the counter with a damp cloth, leaving thin streaks of water on the table. "Yeah," I said, "this place is pretty dang awesome."

Then I decided to do something. Angel had turned to talk to some posh guy I assumed was Sir Hammerlock, since I'd heard of him from Axton. I placed my hand palm-side down on the table and spread apart my fingers. Then I took my dagger out and began tapping away at the paces in between each fingers.

The rhythm of the stabbing was so intoxicating, I did it faster and faster. I caught the attention of a few people, then more, and more, till there was a crowd watching me work faster and faster, not harming myself at all. Then I raised the dagger high and stabbed down hard and fast, the knife piercing the table between my middle and fourth finger.

A chorus of "Whoa…" and "Wow!" rose from the crowd, before they began to disperse. Moxxi was impressed. "Wow sugar, never seen anyone do that so fast and precisely before," she purred, "last time someone in my bar did that, stabbed off a finger," she said. I snorted. "I actually never tried doing that before. I think it's feline reflexes to be extremely careful," I said.

Suddenly, I heard someone call me. "Navire," I turned and saw Angel standing by the door way. "You want to go meet the others?" she asked. I hopped off the stool. "I'll come back later, Moxxi," I said. "Any time, sugar," she said as I left.

Angel then took me to Marcus Kincaid. The gun vendor was counting out his money. "Ah! Angel! I see you brought that new Crimson Raider! Well, young lady," he said, looking over at me, "if you're going to go adventuring, you'll need a better gun than that," he said motioning to my pistol. I looked at it. "I'm kinda attached to it," I said. Marcus laughed. "Come on, I'll let you try some new weapons that just came in today!" he said, leading my to the firing range.

Marcus had brought a box of weapons with him. He opened it and took out a flaming SMG. "Here, try this out," he said, as the target - a bandit tied to a board - came out. Marcus began talking about how fire weapons were extremely efficient against flesh, but I barely heard him. I aimed down the sights of the SMG, keeping it slightly lower than my intended hit area. I completely understood that guns had recoil, though how much, I didn't know. I pulled back the trigger to a deafening shot and held the gun as steady as I could to prevent recoil, but the gun still bounced a bit in my hand. The bullet, I could see, went through the bandit's eye. And he was on fire.

"Oh god, that's awesome!" I said, staring at the hit. Marcus smiled. "That's a fire weapon for you!" he said.

After playing around with different elements and gun types, Angel agreed to get me a shock sniper. "Remember, you can always come back to your friendly neighbourhood arms dealer if you're ever in need of more munitions!" Marcus said as he ward us off.

"I am so in love with Sanctuary," I said, as Angel took me to meet Scooter. "He might be a bit… off, but he's a nice man," Angel said as she pushed open he door to his garage. I slid down the stairs handrail. Scooter was sleeping on his chair by a huge tire, which I assumed he took for a table since there were bottles and other stuff on it.

"He's sleeping, maybe we should come back another time," Angel said, when he woke up. "Or maybe not," Angel said, coming to join me. "Oh, hey ya'll," Scooter said rubbing his eyes. "Heeeeyy! It's the new Crimson Raider!" he said when he recognised me. "Man, everyone been talking' 'bout ya, girl," he said. I blushed. "I'm not really that popular," I said, feeling rather embarrassed.

A few hours later, I was back in the HQ, my new sniper on the table with Mordecai's sniper, my pistol and my dagger. And I was on my bed, staring out of the smashed window. Mordecai's fault, not that I really cared.

Angel came back into the room and sat down on her bed, taking out her laptop again. The room lapsed into silence for a good half hour, with Angel typing away at her keyboard, presumably VaultBook, and I staring out of the window. Then Angel broke the silence with a question.

"Do you plan to become a Vault Hunter?" she asked. I turned. "Come again?" I said. "Do you plan to be a Vault Hunter when you grow older?" Angel repeated.

I cocked my head and turned to face Angel. "What's a Vault Hunter?" I asked. Angel smiled. "They're a band of people with similar interests. To find the Vault that lies on Pandora. The Vault is an ancient treasure, keeping back unknown rewards. No one knows what's in it, but the first Vault triggered the growth of Eridium. Attracted Hyperion's attention," Angel said.

I thought about it. "I dunno, maybe I will, maybe I won't. It depends on how much as changed. I'm still young," I said, leaning back on my pillow. I thought about it. _Will I really become a Vault Hunter?_


End file.
